About

About Papcastle

Papcastle is a small village one mile N.W. of Cockermouth just beyond the northern boundary of the Lake District National park. It sits on a south-facing slope, some 200 feet (65 m) above sea-level. The land runs down to the River Derwent. A compact attractive village with a large proportion of older houses and cottages, apart from a more recent estate development of 45 houses on The Mount.

In common with many other villages, Papcastle has slowly lost its village services. It never had a school, other than a Sunday School, which became a Mission Room, an offshoot of the main church in Bridekirk, 1½ miles away. This building itself was sold off recently and has been converted to a dwelling. It had two shops, reduced to one many years ago, and then the last with its sub-post office closed at the end of 2005 when the sub-postmistress chose to retire.There remains one public house in the village at Belle Vue, The Belle Vue Inn. There is still a limited bus service into Cockermouth or Maryport. Otherwise the main focus of village activity is the Village Hall. The mobile county library van still visits the village once every three weeks.